A minor

Our brother-in-law Jonathan is heading out for Air National Guard basic training in about a month (after which he'll go to Security Forces training school), so he'll be away for several months. While he's gone, Hollie's sister Annie is going to rent part of our upstairs, and since their old lease just ended, Annie & Jonathan are both going to live upstairs until he has to head out. We've been looking forward to having them around, and they just moved in last night. Annie is a cosmetologist (who until recently worked at Headquarters Salon & Spa), and Jonathan is federal security at City of Faith halfway house, so if you need microdermabrasion or just some good old fashioned correctional rehab, you now know where to find them.

I had my first ultrasound yesterday. The technician wasn't able to tell the sex of the baby although she said it looked "suspiciously" like a boy. I'll be having another ultrasound in a month and should find out for sure then. There is still hope for a girl but I'm not banking on it. Whether boy or girl, this baby seems to be super active just like the first two. During the ultrasound, he was busy doing flips for Daddy's amusement. I'm thankful that everything is progressing well. The baby is healthy and that's what really matters.

(More photos can be found here.)

I have a somewhat older and perhaps English view of the parish, such that I feel it's best to go to a church in my neighborhood. With that in mind, we've visited St Thomas Episcopal Church [note: website not updated] the last two Sundays. St Thomas recently acquired a new rector, Fr Errol Montgomery, a former Lutheran who graduated from Nashotah House, was ordained in the Diocese of San Joaquin, California (one of the three Episcopal Dioceses that doesn't ordain women to the sacred order of priests), and comes to Monroe after serving a parish in Northern Indiana. Fr Montgomery seems to be an evangelical charismatic catholic, which is an interesting and exciting mix to me.

St Thomas pros:
- It's in our new neighborhood.
- Fr Montgomery gladly offers the Eucharist to our boys.
- St Thomas appears to be in a critical phase when it could either become stronger and more faithful or die out.

St Thomas cons:
- With the arrival of Fr Montgomery, the parish seems to be coming through the other side of liberalism. I don't know if it's "postliberal" in a Lindbeckian sense, but whatever the case, it has some remnants of its former self. (E.g. I understand that, in the past, marital infidelity and homosexual practice weren't actively discouraged; the parish had a woman supply priest until recently; etc.)
- With the exception of a couple teenagers and toddlers and the Montgomerys, we're some of the the only people there under age 50.

We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom for us and St Thomas.

All is going well with the move. We're tired, but should get the last of it moved today. Also, the cable company won't be able to come out until Wednesday, so no Internet access at home until then.

The deal has been sealed.

My sister and brother-in-law, a graduate of Portland's Western Culinary Institute, are getting ready to begin a new seasonal job as baker and chef at the RimRock Inn, which overlooks Oregon's Joseph Canyon, about an hour-and-a-half drive southwest of Moscow, Idaho. They will be there from late April through mid-November and will be living above the restaurant in its two-bedroom furnished apartment. I hope we can go visit them sometime...maybe even stay in a tepee!